Black Hawk Creek Watershed Improvement Project

06/01/2026

June Farmer Spotlight! 🚜🌾

This month we are highlighting Vince Moye. He farms with several members of his family near Reinbeck.

Vince’s biggest conservation project has been transforming a problem waterway into 3 bioreactors.

His waterway used to turn into a creek every time it rained leading to many wash outs. Since installing the wood chip bioreactors, he has seen greater functionality of his tile. Vince no longer has wash outs or standing water in his waterway and is doing his part to ensure we have clean water to drink and recreate in.

In addition to his 3 bioreactors, Vince also has 2 saturated buffers with 4 more in the works. Saturated buffers and bioreactors are both great ways to treat your water before it enters the stream. These practices can be 100% paid for through the watershed project!

Vince has also been strip-tilling since 1993 when he built his own strip-till machine using a John Deere 7000 corn planter frame.

05/29/2026

05/13/2026

Last Water Quality Wednesday! 💧🧪

This year a wetland that was constructed in 2023 as part of the Water Quality Initiative program (WQI) was monitored. This wetland was designed to intercept tile and treat the water before it continues through the watershed. WL1 was sampled from the tile coming into the wetland. WL2 was sampled from the outlet of the wetland after it had been treated.

This wetland reduced nitrate concentration by 30% on average. This is on the lower side because of the extreme amount of rain over the summer. The rain can cause water to flow through the wetland faster which reduces the time the water gets treated. In October and November, when there was less rain, the wetland removed 50% of the nitrate that entered it.

The wetland improved water quality in several other ways as well. It increased DO by 20% on average. It also increased pH, which is a sign of plant growth. Plants are a good sign because they are a primary driver for water filtration. The wetland also saw a slight decrease in turbidity.

05/07/2026

Are you a vegetable gardener? Have your voice heard at this free event in Grundy Center!

05/01/2026

May Farmer Spotlight! 🚜🌽

As we wrap up Soil and Water Stewardship Week, we decided we want to celebrate stewardship more than one week a year, so we are introducing Monthly Farmer Spotlight!

For May we are highlighting Brad Ohrt and Nathan Easley(Fairview Farms) for everything they do on the farm. If there is a conservation practice, they have probably tried it.

Fairview Farms has been no-tilling before soybeans since 1983 and strip-tilling before corn since 1998!

They have been planting cover crops since 2013, and have cover cropped 100% of their acres for the last 2 years!

Fairview Farms has 4 saturated buffers installed to treat their tile water. They also have a denitrifying oxbow wetland!

Lastly, they utilize filter strips in a “box out” technique to slow water runoff and reduce soil erosion!

Did you know we offer cost-share for all of those practices? 🌾💦🪱

Cover crops - $25/acre with no acre cap for fields within the watershed

Reduced tillage - $10/acre for up to 160 acres for first time users.

Saturated buffers - 100% cost-share

Denitrifying oxbows - 100% cost-share

Filter strips - CRP and IDALS Program

04/29/2026

Another Water Quality Wednesday! 💧🧪🦠

This week we will be looking at some historical data from the last 5 years of water sampling data!

The Black Hawk Creek Watershed Project has been conducting water sampling since 2021. The graphs below display the historical data for nitrate, E. coli, and precipitation respectively. 2021 had a few significant precipitation events, 2022 had more consistent precipitation which could explain the nitrate spike that year. 2023 was a drier year which causes the soil to hold nitrate and E. coli. 2024 and 2025 were both wetter years, so built up nutrients from 2023 were washed away along with inputs from those years. Precipitation data since 2021 in Grundy Center is from Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

04/23/2026

There is a week left to submit posters for a chance to win a cash prize!

The poster contest is back!

K-12 students may create a poster featuring the phrase “Soil. Where It All Begins” for a chance to win a cash prize. Bring finished posters into the Grundy NRCS office.

04/23/2026

Welcome to a late Water Quality Wednesday! 🦠🧪💧

This week we will be discussing total dissolved solids and turbidity and how they relate.

Turbidity measures the cloudiness of the water caused by particulate matter in the water. Examples include clay, silt, and algae. Total dissolved solids (TDS) measures invisible matter dissolved in the water, such as minerals and salts.

Turbidity over 10 NTU is considered high, and TDS above 500ppm is considered high.

The picture below shows the average TDS and turbidity for each site. Sites that have a high turbidity and low TDS indicate that they have significant amount of particulate matter in the water. This is likely due to soil erosion. SF1, WC1, and WC4 display this pattern.

04/22/2026

Happy Earth Day! 🌎 🌳💦

We got to spend our Earth Day with staff from Marshall county NRCS to prepare for upcoming saturated buffer projects to improve water quality!

Special thanks to Marshall Soil and Water Conservation District and Hertz Farm Management, Inc. for participating!

04/15/2026

Welcome to another Water Quality Wednesday! 💧🧪🦠

This week we will be discussing dissolved oxygen within the watershed!

Dissolved oxygen (DO) is a good indicator of stream health because aquatic life needs oxygen in the water to survive and reproduce.

In addition, pollution can lead to a decrease in DO. DO needs to be at least 5mg/L in order for aquatic life to survive. Higher levels, such as 8mg/L, are more ideal.

The graph below displays the average DO at each site. All of the sites have a sufficient amount of DO for aquatic life to survive.